Inland Border Issues: The Alberta

Geoffrey Hale
University of Lethbridge // Borders in Globalization Project
Presentation to:
PNWER Annual Summit, Big Sky, MT, July 14, 2015
Overview
 The Prairie/Plains / Trans-Mountain Region (Alberta-Montana plus)
 Trends in Trade-Travel Flows in broader AB-MT region
 Major issues and recommendations
Border Perspectives
Dispersed territory, population . . .
Border Perspectives
Dispersed territory, population . . .
Alberta- SE British Columbia
Montana
Medium-sized urban (2011)
 Lethbridge CMA
 Medicine Hat CMA
106,000
73,000
Rural and small urban (2011)
 South-eastern AB
 South-western AB
 Cranbrook CA (BC)
 East Kootenays (BC)
30,800
55,400
25,000
31,700
Western Border Counties
 Flathead (Kalispell)
 Lincoln (Eureka)
Central Montana
 Cascade (Great Falls)
 Hill (Havre)
 Glacier (Cut Bank)
 Five other counties
Eastern Border Counties
 six counties
Total
Total
321,900
Calgary CMA
1,215,000
Source: Statistics Canada, 2011 Census.
94,000
20,000
83,800
17,000
13,800
26,200
34,800
289,600
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014.
Prairies / Plains / Trans-Mountain Region
“Alberta-Montana Plus”
The Land Border
A Border Security / Service Agencies View
CBP Oversight (Great Falls): Montana and Idaho (14 land POEs)
U.S. Border Patrol: Havre (Montana east of Continental Divide); Spokane (E WA, ID, W MT)
CBSA Oversight (Coutts):
Alberta / Saskatchewan
Km
Mi.
Major
Alberta-Montana
298
185
BC-Montana
BC-Idaho
144
72
89
45
Saskatchewan-Montana
435
271
Saskatchewan-N. Dakota
197
122
1
0
SweetgrassCoutts
1 Roosville
1 Eastgate/ 1 Porthill/
Kingsgate Rykerts
1 Raymond/ 0
Regway
1 Portal / 0
N. Portal
4
Total
1,146
712
* Includes seasonal port / crossing at Chief Mountain
Medium Small/Remote
6*
0
0
5
5
Border Perspectives
Different Interests, Different Borders
AB-NW MT Tourism Border Trucking Industry View
The Trade Border
 Southbound trade dominated by bulk commodities
 widely distributed
 I-15 corridor (Sweetgrass / Coutts) principal N-S corridor for trucks
 Other major truck corridors through Portal (ND/SK), Eastgate (ID/BC)
 9th, 10th, and 15rd busiest Can-US truck crossings (of 83)
 Major rail corridors from Blaine (WA) through Int’l Falls (MN)
 Raymond / Regway secondary gateway (after Portal) for SK trade with Western
states (# 23)
 Northbound trade
 I-15 corridor dominant corridor, followed by US/BC 95 through N. Portal, SK,
Kingsgate, BC Higher volumes of truck freight for northbound crossings
 Little correlation between number of truck shipments, freight value
 Growing volume of “empties” crossing border southbound in recent years
 Smaller crossings (ex. Raymond, Roosville)
 main importance for local shippers / customers
The Trade Border
Alberta
Montana
 Widely dispersed shipments (2014)
 Exports to Canada (2014) $ 549 mm
(billions of US dollars)
 Pipeline
$74.2 bn. 78.0%
 Rail
$ 13.7 bn. 14.4%
 Truck
$ 7.3 bn. 7.6%
 Major truck freight shipments
 Montana
$ 4.2 bn. 58.3%
 Sweetgrass
 N. Dakota
 Portal
$ 1.6 bn. 22.7%
 Idaho
 Eastgate
$ 650 mm 9.0%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Transportations Statistics
$ mm.
 Alberta
$ 223.3
 Saskatchewan 92.3
 B.C.
47.4
% by truck
76.1%
94.7%
72.1%
 Value of Truck Freight through
Montana POEs – 2014 (USD)
Exports
Total
8.9 bn.
Sweetgrass
95.6%
Raymond
4.4%
Roosville
< 1%
MT origin/destin. 2.5%
Imports
5.7 bn.
90.4%
5.7%
1.4%
7.5%
The Trade Border
 Major issues
 Regulatory coordination issues


Transportation . . . Rail safety . . . Agri-food / food safety
Addressed primarily in PNWER sectoral committees


Transportation / Livestock Health / Agriculture
Largely in federal jurisdiction  Regulatory Cooperation Commission



Sectoral committees: Transportation, Agriculture: meat + plant health;
Processed Food.
Work in progress – easier to address new regulations than to revise /
harmonize existing ones
Process requires proactive public service and industry engagement with
U.S. counterparts
Border Traffic: 2000-13
Alberta-Montana Border
The Travel / Tourism Border
 Rapid growth of cross-border travel since 2005
 Southbound traffic (Montana) – up 55% since 2000
 Reflects population growth, relative prosperity
 Minimal penetration of NEXUS cards, “secure” ID.
 Volumes and seasonality vary widely across crossings
 Limited impact of exchange rate shift in 2013-14
 Varies by crossing, but flat overall in Montana/Idaho vs. 3.9%
decline of Canada-US border crossings.
.
The Travel / Tourism Border
Sweetgrass, MT
Roosville, MT
Porthill, ID
Piegan, MT
Eastgate, ID
Del Bonita, MT
Raymond, MT
Wild Horse, MT
5 Eastern MT.
Total: MT/ID
Canada-US Total
SB cars/day
2014
833.5
647.8
483.0
303.6
283.4
81.1
72.6
49.3
92.0
2,848.0
87,615.7
% change
2000-14
41.9%
153.4%
53.0%
5.3%
10.4%
100.5%
- 11.7%
n/a
16.6%
48.7%
- 13.4%
% chg. Monthly std.
2013-14 deviation (2013)
- 2.2%
19.4%
+ 2.9%
37.4%
- 2.9%
15.1%
- 6.1%
86.8%
+ 7.4%
54.8%
+ 9.5%
36.0%
+ 3.9%
31.4%
- 7.3%
41.0%
n/a
20-40%
- 0.2%
n/a
- 3.9%
20.3%
Key Findings
 Major issues vary by sector, region
 Many issues addressed by sectoral committees (e.g. transportation / market access /
livestock safety)  “Behind the Borders”
 Meat sector – progress limited by political conflict over regulatory barriers to trade
(COOL, duplication of inspection processes + challenges to harmonize new
regulatory systems under updated U.S., Canadian food safety regulation.
 Key shared issues (land borders)
 Predictability (wait times / admin. procedures)
 Big difference in familiarity, problems between regular, occasional users,
whether in trade or travel
 Sectoral issues highly technical, generally addressed at national level.
 Major focus on promoting “pre-clearance” among shippers, truckers
Key Findings
 Some progress visible as a result of Beyond-the-Border process
 Changes to “in-bond, in-transit” rules have reduced barriers
 Positive expectations for new E-manifest systems  but training critical for
both private, public sector employees to achieve consistency
 “Known employer” pilots may help with business staff travel, but jury’s still
out
Key Findings and Recommendations
 No single focus for coordinating private sector information, advocacy
on border issues in Alberta, Montana
 Recommend creation of Border Advisory Councils in Alberta,
Saskatchewan, Montana, Idaho – suggests coordination by local
governments, Chambers, economic development agencies on major trade
and travel corridors, with prov. / state support if possible.
 Goal: facilitate information sharing, cooperation among major stakeholder
groups, interaction with relevant agencies in each jurisdiction,
counterparts in neighbouring jurisdiction.
 Virtually all publicly available data available through U.S. government
sources
 Recommend that Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) release online,
searchable data (monthly, annual) on northbound freight movements,
travel crossings comparable to US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Data
should allow for disaggregation of movements by Canadians, Americans.
Key Findings and Recommendations II
 Occasional and periodic users have greatest challenges with border
procedures, requirements  especially small businesses, ranchers and
farmers engaged in occasional cross-border shipments.
 Recommend that border region Chambers of Commerce hold periodic
information sessions on border processes for small businesses, agri-firms, in
cooperation with Border Agencies, proposed advisory councils.
 Frequent reports of inconsistent application of border rules governing
trade, business travel, freight shipments
 Recommend that PNWER border issues council commission targeted research
project to identify and quantify specific challenges facing business and other
service professionals, determine extent to which compliance issues relate to
structure of rules, relatively lack of familiarity by border users or by border
agency staff.
 Recommend monitoring application of “single trip in-bond highway
movements” to identify areas requiring improved public information, training
for border users and/or agency staff.
 Recommend review of national criteria for designating commercial ports to
promote increased harmonization (facilitate regional trade corridors).